What is wrong with deathmetal.org

The reasons for this are simple; they are the same reasons that drew me to ANUS (lol) and then here. We maintain that metal should be upheld as art, and judged for quality by that consistent standard. There are a lot of very different people here at DMU, and I love a good argument, so I get lots of brainfood from this forum's users. But, that is our unifying characteristic; the belief that metal deserves to be upheld to standards, not just enjoyed for the sake of enjoyment (or, worse, cool points).

Meanwhile, most people consider music to be nothing more than amusement, entertainment. Because, much music *is* amusement, entertainment; it rarely crosses their minds that music *could* be anything more; or, if it does cross their minds, they are repulsed by the implications of responsibility.

I understand that the goal of ANUS and subsequently DMU is not to 'win them over' as if we were some kind of metal evangelical front. But, I think some of these 'metal is not art' naysayers deserve a response, because they have leveled one very serious and penetrating accusation at us.

This accusation is that we all sit around and rip on bands that are not cool enough for our standards, without giving anything back to 'the metal community' or whatever. I recognize this as a bullshit accusation, because I have listened to several users' musical projects, and they are of a higher caliber in general than one would expect of modern metal or other music independent of generic restriction.

So, I suggest this resolution: Put members' music projects on the front page. Make them clearly visible and accessible to any and all visitors. Show them that we aren't here to tear down music that is just 'not good enough' for us; show them that our purpose is to make a difference by dissecting the problems with modern music and then (most importantly) correcting the problems by offering superior music instead; by offering ART.

Having spent some time with naysayers, there's two types: people caught up in the hype and unreasonable people who are personally offended by our approach.

The people caught up in the hype are just repeating things their friends said, and often if given the verbal equivalent of a sharp rap to the head, back down.

The unreasonable people feel personally attacked by what we do, even though it never mentions them. They are ceaseless in their agitation and are horrified by us.

In addition, the Crowdist herd is morally offended by our anti-Crowdist position.

I don't think offering members' projects will seem like anything other than a clubhouse.

The unreasonable types conveniently ignore all the bands we've pushed hard over the years, like Burzum, Ildjarn, Beherit, Demilich and Cianide when it was un-trendy to like these bands (there are more).

What we really need is people willing to link to, display and talk about our content.

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Having our members post stuff like this also makes us public enemy number one of the underconfident metalhead:

Quote

Quote from: Conservationist

Nothing after Symphonies of Sickness has been worth listening to.

Those early two albums are the A+ work; the middle-period technical death metal is B- (but A for technicality!!1!); the later stuff is all insincere hogwash.

Continuing to listen to Carcass is like not locking your door when your pedophile uncle comes to visit. You somehow believe you must endure the violation and try to convince yourself you're coming out ahead (free sex).

I don't think offering members' projects will seem like anything other than a clubhouse.

How do you figure that?

One of the main jokes repeated about DMU is that all music is garbage after 1995, and that all we do is tear down, tear down. Remember the saying about the sculptor who became a vandal because he would not work as hard as the other sculptors? His solution was to deface the sculptures of others because his own work could not compare to their beauty. Let us not be like that.

I don't see how offering a page of links to members' music would seem like a clubhouse. It would be promoting stuff that we perceive to have quality; importantly, NEW stuff.

One of the main reasons I'm hesitant to display, link to, and talk about DMU content is mentioned above; we appear to be the vandals in this case, hating that which we cannot overcome through creation, reverting to cynical destructive tendencies to make ourselves feel better somehow (the Sadistic Metal Reviews, while enjoyable, certainly do not help our case). This is the disease that is every music club on the internet. Let's show people that we aren't afraid to have our own music out in the open to be judged. To "dish it out" without being able to "take it" is perceived as a display of weakness by *every* group and class, within the internet and without.

Remember the saying about the sculptor who became a vandal because he would not work as hard as the other sculptors? His solution was to deface the sculptures of others because his own work could not compare to their beauty. Let us not be like that.

Doesn't even apply here. Most of what we've done is write about bands we consider better than others.

Remember the saying about the sculptor who became a vandal because he would not work as hard as the other sculptors? His solution was to deface the sculptures of others because his own work could not compare to their beauty. Let us not be like that.

Doesn't even apply here. Most of what we've done is write about bands we consider better than others.

It does apply because that's what people see us doing, and it drives them away from the content. We need content that intrigues those music listeners that are teetering on the verge of discovering something great, but to stumble into the DMU front page and see something like Sadistic Reviews will turn those people away.

It takes quite a leap for the usual music listener to go from their crowdist mindset (music is entertainment, everyone wants to be entertained in different ways, music should offer different ways of entertaining, therefore music quality is subjective) to the mindset prevalent at DMU. Most of these people who are ready to be "converted" are out looking for a drastic change in perspective, and DMU offers them that, but they don't readily see it. Making forum members' projects readily accessible will show them that we're serious about promoting good music, not just OLD good music. They need proof that we're not stuck in the past like embittered ex-hipsters. I know that *we* don't need to prove it to ourselves, but, people are generally quite stupid, and rarely willing to subject themselves to offensive and confrontational ideas until they are able to adjust their perspective.

This is not to suggest that DMU make any sort of compromise. It's just a way of showing people that we are Vishnu as well as Shiva. Making members' music accessible is one of the best ways to do this, because if people are turned off by the front page right away, you shouldn't expect them to go snooping around the forum posts to see where some odd project or another is being advertised.

90% of people are weekenders who drift through music/metal on their way to buy things at Target.

We're looking at the 10%. Wikipedia and Metal-Archives have already jumped the shark and are in trouble. Both are Google-favored "easy answers" but they're not actually helping the normal consumer do much of anything.

Thus we're staying relevant by commenting on metal music. As Keith Kahn-Harris notes, metal has an oversupply problem. We're correcting that and should never back down on that front. 99% of post-1995 metal is total shit.

But the real problem here is that we need to separate members' projects from quality assessment.

Most forum projects, compilations etc are shit because they're chosen for social reasons -- e.g. "I like you guys" -- instead of musical reasons.

We try to be supportive of any of the projects that drift through and show potential, but we're not going to be nepotistic if we can help it.

That won't help you, the forum guy musician. It will give you a temporary promotional boost but the real test will be the music itself. If that is artificially boosted, a correction will be coming, and that will do you more damage -- branding you as falsely hyped -- than saying nothing would have.

You think we're not ready to pass judgment on our fellow members? I think, if you think that, you are wrong.

We don't need to promote the shit out of any and everything to come out of the forum members' projects. DMU is the least likely place for a good-ol-boy's club circle-jerk that occurs somewhere like, say, punknews.org.

If there is something of merit in user projects, share the project on the forum. If it measures up it measures up, simple as. I am sure it would give this place a huge boost if it was ground zero for some quality acts, but that isnt the kind of thing you can make happen. It is up to those who are able to take the plunge. I admire the bravery of the ones who have already done this and I have great respect for them even if the music is wanting, because it can get better. None have as of yet measured up (about 3 have potential as individuals even if not the specific project), though I am about to listen to Imposition`s stuff. The best argument is to make metal that is worthy and force the admins hand.

The reason this place is derided goes further than just the metal music content, though that is the meat of it. There is a loooong and colourful history there lol.